He must climb ledges, jump over water and gaps in the terrain, and avoid animal attackers.

Congo Bongo has similar elements and gameplay to Nintendo's Donkey Kong from 1981, with the isometric perspective from Sega's Zaxxon released in Japan in early 1982.

Both Congo Bongo and Donkey Kong involve primates who throw objects at the player from a vantage point atop a structure.

[9][10] In Japan, Game Machine listed Congo Bongo on their June 15, 1983 issue as being the fifth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

They called its concept of Donkey Kong (1981) "in three dimensions" a "fascinating idea" while also noting the final level has similarities to Frogger (1981).

in 1984 stated that Congo Bongo for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 "is fraught with problems; gameplay is repetitive, frustrating, tedious, inconsistent, and at times confusing, and the music not only got on my nerves but stomped on them.